Exploring young adults' experiences with food allergy during their teenage years: A practice research study.

INTRODUCTION: Symptoms of anxiety, eating disorders and social isolation are prevalent among teenagers with food allergy compared to peers without. Treatment of teenagers with food allergy focus on preventing anaphylactic reactions, with little attention to promoting social and emotional well-being. The aim of the study was to explore young adults' perspectives on everyday life with food allergy during their teenage years to improve future clinical practice. METHODS: Critical psychological practice research. During a 2-day camp the perspectives of 10 young adults (18-23 years) were explored through participant observation and informal interviews. Three follow up interviews were conducted. A co-researcher group discussed preliminary results, clinical challenges and ways forward. RESULTS: Being together with peers with food allergy was crucial, fostering belonging and normalisation. The shift in responsibility of managing the risk feels overwhelming and stressful during teen age. Self-understanding was influenced when managing food allergy in social contexts, inducing feelings of burden and isolation. Acceptance and understanding from social relations became important for all participants, and they all underlined desire for being viewed as individuals rather than being defined by their allergy. CONCLUSION: Support from other peers with food allergy is crucial for the participants. Transition to independently managing risks introduces uncertainty and social constraints, affecting self-understanding and interactions. Clinicians should prioritise peer support and empower teenagers in managing the risk and psychosocial challenges.

Pretreatment insight as a predictor of alliance strengthening in supportive vs. supportive-expressive treatment.

OBJECTIVE: The available literature points to the potential therapeutic benefits of alliance strengthening during treatment. Both supportive and expressive techniques have been suggested to be associated with strengthening of the alliance. The present study investigates whether patients may show different effects of supportive vs. expressive techniques in improving alliance as a function of their pretreatment insight levels. METHOD: Fifty-five patients were randomly assigned to either supportive treatment (ST) or supportive-expressive treatment (SET), as part of a larger randomized controlled trial. Clinical interviews were administered at pretreatment to evaluate the patients' level of insight. The working alliance was measured after each of the 16 sessions. A multilevel model, including a 3-way interaction of pretreatment insight by treatment condition (ST vs. SET) by time, was used to predict alliance strengthening. RESULTS: The findings suggest that, for individuals receiving ST, those with higher levels of insight show greater alliance strengthening. For individuals receiving SET, those with lower levels of insight show greater alliance strengthening. CONCLUSION: The current study suggests that one size may not fit all and, whereas some individuals may benefit more from ST to achieve alliance strengthening, others may benefit more from SET.

Remember walking in their shoes? The relation of self-referential source memory and emotion recognition.

Deficits in the ability to read the emotions of others have been demonstrated in mental disorders, such as dissociation and schizophrenia, which involve a distorted sense of self. This study examined whether weakened self-referential source memory, being unable to remember whether a piece of information has been processed with reference to oneself, is linked to ineffective emotion recognition. In two samples from a college and community, we quantified the participants' ability to remember the self-generated versus non-self-generated origins of sentences they had previously read or partially generated. We also measured their ability to read others' emotions accurately when viewing photos of people in affect-charged situations. Multinomial processing tree modelling was applied to obtain a measure of self-referential source memory that was not biased by non-mnemonic factors. Our first experiment with college participants revealed a positive correlation between correctly remembering the origins of sentences and accurately recognising the emotions of others. This correlation was successfully replicated in the second experiment with community participants. The current study offers evidence of a link between self-referential source memory and emotion recognition.

Helping Others in Virtual Reality Increases Prosocial Self-understanding Among Adolescents.

Reflection on prosocial experiences may be helpful for adolescents highly attentive to their internal states (i.e., high private self-consciousness) to gain prosocial self-knowledge, yet adolescents with low private self-consciousness may not benefit from it. The current study proposed and examined that engaging in helping behavior would be beneficial for those with low private self-consciousness in self-understanding. Two experimental studies using immersive virtual environment technology were conducted to simulate helping situations. A total of 140 middle school students (n = 59, 47.5% female, Mage = 13.98, SD = 0.89, in Study 1; n = 81, 44.4% female, Mage = 15.31, SD = 1.18, in Study 2) completed the experiments. In both studies, adolescents engaging in helping behaviors identified themselves as more prosocial than those who did not engage in helping behaviors. In Study 2, adolescents' positive prosocial self-concept would increase more through engaging in prosocial behavior than by reflecting on past prosocial experiences. Furthermore, adolescents with high private self-consciousness can gain self-understanding both from self-reflection and engaging in prosocial behavior, whereas adolescents with low private self-consciousness benefit only from engaging in prosocial behavior. The findings suggest the need to consider individual differences and adopt appropriate ways of self-understanding when assisting adolescents' prosocial self-formation.

Professional self-understanding of teachers in different career stages: a phenomenological analysis.

Teachers' sense of identity plays a central role in understanding their actions as individuals inside and outside the classroom. Therefore, it is important to determine teachers' understanding of who they are. Thus, teachers' opinions about their professional self-understanding in the study were aimed to be analysed. Although teacher training practices are gaining importance rapidly, it is seen that studies on how teachers evaluate themselves are not sufficiently included in the literature. For this purpose, the research was carried out using the qualitative research method and phenomenology pattern to consider teachers' opinions about their professional self-understanding holistically. The research study group consists of 44 teachers working in primary, secondary, and high schools in the Pendik district of Istanbul. Research data were obtained from in-depth interviews with teachers through semi-structured interview forms. The findings obtained were grouped under five themes: "Image, Respect, Job Motivation, Perception of Duty, and Future Views", considering the relevant literature. The study revealed that professional self-understanding is closely affected by emotions and teachers' social status. Considering the relationship between social status, acceptance, and individual motivation, it is thought that the negative judgments in society about the teaching profession make individuals reluctant to choose this profession. For this reason, it can be evaluated that studies should be carried out to restore the eroded reputation of the profession in society and that this profession should be provided with much more attractive opportunities economically.

Exploring the relationships of citizens' scientific interest and self-understanding to their learning enjoyment and self-efficacy in science.

The aim of this study was to explore whether citizens' scientific interest and self-understanding relate to their learning enjoyment and self-efficacy in science. The sample participants consisted of 1,657 Taiwanese citizens ranging from 18 to 70 years of age. All participants were asked to complete the 2018 "Taiwan Citizens Science and Technology Literacy Survey" to assess their scientific interest, scientific self-understanding, science learning enjoyment, and scientific self-efficacy. Multiple regression models were used to analyze the data. The important findings included: (1) scientific interest was the most important predictor of science learning enjoyment, while scientific self-understanding was the most important predictor of scientific self-efficacy; and (2) the effects of scientific interest on self-understanding and the effect of science learning enjoyment on scientific self-efficacy each were significantly moderated by respondents' age, with stronger relationships observed in younger citizens than older citizens. This study provides insight into Taiwanese citizens' scientific learning enjoyment and self-efficacy and also informs potential governmental policies and/or societal practices that could be considered to promote scientific literacy.

How transactional relations contribute to adaptive developmental outcomes when young people with disabilities participate in specially designed group programs - a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Meta-synthesis can enhance our existing knowledge regarding experiences of participation in group-based programs designed for young people with disabilities. AIM: This study aimed to identify the transactional relations between the social contexts in group programs and meaningful personal experiences and developmental processes for young people with disabilities. METHOD: For this research, 4 electronic data-bases were searched, 3406 citations were reviewed, and 13 qualitative studies describing experiences of participation in specially designed group-based programs from the perspective of young people with disabilities were included. A meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesise the data, and resulting categories were conceptualised in King et al.'s framework of transactional processes and adaptive development. RESULTS: Nineteen categories across six themes describing: environment, social context, social mechanisms, personal processes, meaningful experiences, and outcomes demonstrated the dynamic interrelation between social context and personal processes. Peer group interaction was essential for exploring capacities and developing strategies. CONCLUSION: This review highlights the important role of the peer group in transferring program experiences into the everyday life contexts of young people with disabilities. It may assist professionals who are considering the use of peer groups when planning participation-focussed programs aiming to facilitate personal development for young people with disabilities.

The Heart of Mentoring: The 2019 Hiram J. Friedsam Mentorship Award Lecture.

Mentoring is one of the most important and rewarding tasks taken on by teachers and colleagues. It involves a love of teaching and a desire to assist others in their intellectual development and personal growth. Effective mentoring involves a variety of roles including that of teacher, facilitator, guide, counselor, and coach. Mentors must exhibit a variety of skills including competence in an area of expertise, good interpersonal communication skills, patience with process, openness and availability, and compassion. Everyone needs a mentor to develop and reach his or her full potential. This manuscript explores many of the facets of effective mentoring as the author discusses the ten mentors who shaped his life.

Insight into conflictual relationship patterns: Development and validation of an observer rating scale.

Objective: This study aimed to develop an observer-rated measure of Insight into Conflictual Relationship Patterns (ICR) applicable to audio- or videotapes of psychotherapy sessions and conduct a first psychometric evaluation. Method: We investigated the item properties, principal components, reliability, and validity of the ICR in a naturalistic sample of N = 125 outpatients in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Results: The ICR consists of 12 items that showed adequate item discrimination and item difficulty indices. All items represent one principal component. Using item response theory, discrimination parameters and item characteristic curves revealed that the ability of all items to differentiate patients was adequate to very good. The scale demonstrated good interrater reliability (ICC(3,1) = .76-.93), adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .84), and high retest reliability (r = .91). Regarding validity, the ICR was significantly associated with insight according to the Achievement of Therapeutic Objectives Scale and patient-perceived session depth. Insight at session five predicted a symptomatic increase from session five to session ten. Conclusion: The ICR is an observer-rated measure to assess insight from psychotherapy session recordings that has demonstrated several aspects of reliability and validity. Future studies are needed to clarify the impact of ICR-assessed insight for symptomatic outcome.

Assessing Individual Variation in Action Identification: Translation, Validation, and Shortening of the Polish Behavior Identification Form (BIF).

Action identification theory asserts that level of action identification holds implications for important aspects of personality, including self-regulation, self-concept, and vulnerability to social influence. Vallacher and Wegner's Behavior Identification Form is a 25-item forced-choice instrument that assesses individual differences in characteristic level of action identification and is widely used in social and psychological research. This article presents studies that evaluated the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Behavior Identification Form, further modified it into a shortened version, and investigated several predicted conceptual relationships between the Behavior Identification Form and other personality measures. A total of 1153 Polish university students in three samples took part in the research. Psychometrically, the Polish Behavior Identification Form proved to be reasonably sound, with good internal consistency (avg. α = .83 and α = .72 for the full and short form, respectively). The predictive abilities of the full and short Polish Behavior Identification Form were consistently comparable, although not all of the expected associations were found.

An ambiguity in Habermas's argument against liberal eugenics.

In his book The future of human nature, Jürgen Habermas argues against a scenario of liberal eugenics, in which parents are free to prenatally manipulate their children's genetic constitution via germline interventions. In this paper, I draw attention to the fact that his species-ethical line of argument is pervaded by a substantial ambiguity between an argument from actual intervention (AAI) and an argument from mere controllability (AMC). Whereas the first argument focuses on threats for the autonomy and equality of prenatally modified persons, the second argument takes all human beings, whether they have been modified or not, into account. Hence, when invoking Habermas in these debates, bioethicists need to consider carefully which argument they are referring to.

How pupils on the autism spectrum make sense of themselves in the context of their experiences in a mainstream school setting: A qualitative metasynthesis.

Evidence that interpersonal interactions and self-appraisal in social context are crucial in developing self-understanding raises concerns about how pupils with autism spectrum disorder make sense of themselves in school settings where many experience social marginalisation. Metasynthesis was used to systematically extract and integrate findings from qualitative studies examining the mainstream school experiences of these students. Synthesised findings identified three, intermeshing, aspects of experience which contribute to many pupils with autism spectrum disorder making sense of themselves as 'different' to typical peers in a negative way: difficulties linked to autism spectrum disorder; interpersonal relationships, particularly with peers; and accessibility of the school environment. Typical pupils' attitudes and responses towards peers with autism spectrum disorder, unusual sensory reactions to the physical school environment and individual sense-making about the self are highlighted as key areas requiring further research and intervention to improve the experiences, self-esteem and well-being of pupils with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive settings and to inform educational policy and practice.

Mentalizing oneself: detecting reflective functioning in life narratives.

Reflective functioning (RF) is defined as the ability to infer mental states of others and oneself. While RF has been predominantly studied in attachment research, it might also occur in other autobiographical narratives because of its strong connection to self-organization and self-understanding. Therefore, this study took a first step combining research on RF with developmental narrative research. In a longitudinal lifespan study covering up to three measurements across 8 years and six age groups (N = 172), we aimed to detect RF in entire life narratives to explore its development with age and its contribution to causal-motivational coherence of life narratives. Although scores were initially low, RF could be identified in life narratives, and was found to develop throughout adolescence and to predict life narrative coherence above and beyond age. Results confirm RF as significantly contributing to narrative self-organization, indicating promising new paths in research on autobiographical narratives and self.

"I don't need a flat tummy; I just want to run fast" - self-understanding and bodily identity of women in competitive and recreational sports.

BACKGROUND: Women who exercise intensively, whether competitive or recreational, devote a lot of time and energy into exercise, which requires high levels of ambition and motivation. The aim of the study is to investigate the self-understanding and bodily identity of different (competitive vs recreational) forms of exercise, and to investigate the role of important others (parents, siblings and social relations) for this self-understanding. METHODS: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. An interactional psychodynamic framework informed the development of the interview questions focusing on the influence of their family, peers, and the meaning of exercise for their identity. Participants were recruited via local training centers and via the Danish Athletic Sports Association. A total of twenty highly physically active female athletes were interviewed, ten of whom participated in competitions ("competitve athletes") and ten of whom did not ("recreational athletes"). RESULTS: Self-related and social similarities and differences between competitive athletes and recreational athletes were found. Recreational athletes had supportive but not ambitious parents and used sport to reinforce their bodily self-efficacy and identity, while competitive athletes had highly engaged parents, especially fathers, and competed to externalize their identities as athletes. Correspondingly, the meaning of exercise was the activity itself, for recreational athletes, while competition was the means to the end of achievement, for competitive athletes. CONCLUSION: All athletes are affected and triggered by their biography and their environment. The biographical tradition of sport culture must be recognized as important for the engagement in different forms of physical activity in health and competition settings. If research can make the conflicts and relations of the self visible in sports culture, this could strengthen the recognition that the overall bodily well-being of athletes is important for women's health.

Association Between Insight and Outcome of Psychotherapy: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: An increased understanding of repetitive dysfunctional patterns and their relationship to an individual's life history is regarded as a key mechanism of change in insight-oriented therapies. At the same time, empirical research on the insight-outcome relationship is rare, and its generalizability is restricted by the use of a wide range of definitions and methods among studies. The authors conducted a meta-analysis to systematically examine the association between patient insight and psychotherapy outcome across a range of treatment modalities. METHOD: Insight was defined as patients' understanding of associations between past and present experiences, typical relationship patterns, and the relation between interpersonal challenges, emotional experience, and psychological symptoms. From 13,849 initially identified abstracts, the authors extracted 23 independent effect sizes. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to assess the magnitude of the insight-outcome relationship. Risk of publication bias was assessed with funnel plot inspections, Egger's regression test, and Duval and Tweedie's trim-and-fill procedure as sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: A significant, moderate correlation (r=0.31) was observed between insight and treatment outcome. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated the robustness of the results. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the importance of insight for psychotherapy outcome. Insight may be a relevant mechanism of change across different treatment modalities.

Remaining in the nursing profession: The relevance of strong evaluations.

BACKGROUND:: Why nurses remain in the profession is a complex question. However, strong values can be grounds for their remaining, meaning nurses evaluate the qualitative worth of different desires and distinguish between senses of what is a good life. RESEARCH QUESTION:: The overall aim is to explore and argue the relevance of strong evaluations for remaining in the nursing profession. RESEARCH DESIGN:: This theoretical article based on a hermeneutical approach introduces the concept strong evaluations as described by the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor and provides examples of nurses' experiences in everyday nursing care drawn from a Norwegian empirical study. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT:: Data collected in the original study consisted of qualitative interviews and qualitative follow-up interviews with 13 nurses. The research context was the primary and secondary somatic and psychiatric health service, inside as well as outside institutions. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION:: The article uses data from an original empirical study approved by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services. Information was given and consent obtained from the participants. FINDINGS:: Remaining in the nursing profession can be understood as revolving around being a strong evaluator. This has been concretized in issues of being aware of different incidents in life and having capacities as a nurse. DISCUSSION:: Why nurses remain is discussed in relation to how nurses have shaped themselves by reflecting on what is of significance in their life. However, being a strong evaluator cannot be seen as the casual condition for remaining. CONCLUSION:: Remaining in the nursing profession is obviously not a contingent matter, rather it is a matter concerned with the qualitative worth of different desires and values. Nurses' awareness of a life choice impacts on whether they remain or not. Consequently, nurses may need to articulate and reflect on their priorities for remaining.

Mine is better than yours: Investigating the ownership effect in children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children.

Ownership has a unique and privileged influence on human psychology. Typically developing (TD) children judge their objects to be more desirable and valuable than similar objects belonging to others. This 'ownership effect' is due to processing one's property in relation to 'the self'. Here we explore whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - a population with impaired self-understanding - prefer and over-value property due to ownership. In Experiment 1, we discovered that children with ASD did not favour a randomly endowed toy and frequently traded for a different object. By contrast, TD children showed a clear preference for their randomly endowed toy and traded infrequently. Both populations also demonstrated highly-accurate tracking of owner-object relationships. Experiment 2 showed that both TD children and children with ASD over-value their toys if they are self-selected and different from other-owned toys. Unlike TD children, children with ASD did not over-value their toys in comparison to non-owned identical copies. This finding was replicated in Experiment 3, which also established that mere ownership elicited over-valuation of randomly endowed property in TD children. However, children with ASD did not consistently regard their randomly endowed toys as the most valuable, and evaluated property irrespective of ownership. Our findings show that mere ownership increases preferences and valuations for self-owned property in TD children, but not children with ASD. We propose that deficits in self-understanding may diminish ownership effects in ASD, eliciting a more economically-rational strategy that prioritises material qualities (e.g. what a toy is) rather than whom it belongs to.

What Is Art Good For? The Socio-Epistemic Value of Art.

Scientists, humanists, and art lovers alike value art not just for its beauty, but also for its social and epistemic importance; that is, for its communicative nature, its capacity to increase one's self-knowledge and encourage personal growth, and its ability to challenge our schemas and preconceptions. However, empirical research tends to discount the importance of such social and epistemic outcomes of art engagement, instead focusing on individuals' preferences, judgments of beauty, pleasure, or other emotional appraisals as the primary outcomes of art appreciation. Here, we argue that a systematic neuroscientific study of art appreciation must move beyond understanding aesthetics alone, and toward investigating the social importance of art appreciation. We make our argument for such a shift in focus first, by situating art appreciation as an active social practice. We follow by reviewing the available psychological and cognitive neuroscientific evidence that art appreciation cultivates socio-epistemic skills such as self- and other-understanding, and discuss philosophical frameworks which suggest a more comprehensive empirical investigation. Finally, we argue that focusing on the socio-epistemic values of art engagement highlights the important role art plays in our lives. Empirical research on art appreciation can thus be used to show that engagement with art has specific social and personal value, the cultivation of which is important to us as individuals, and as communities.

Developmental Changes in Empathic Concern and Self-Understanding in Toddlers at Genetic Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Toddlers with an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and low risk (LR) toddlers were observed at 22, 28, and 34 months during two empathy probes: a crying baby and an adult who pretended to hurt her finger. Toddlers with a later ASD diagnosis showed less empathic concern and self-distress at each age on both empathy probes than LR toddlers. HR toddlers with no diagnosis showed growth in empathic concern between 22 and 34 months in response to the adult's pain, differing from the children with ASD, but not the LR children, by 34 months. Developmental changes in parent-rated self-understanding showed a similar pattern. Results highlight individual differences in the social development of HR toddlers.